The Other World
by pardum
Summary: Hadrian Potter lived in a world of Magical customs, traditions, and politics, that changed when in a mysterious flash of light he is transported to a world where the only person who can help him is eleven year old harry potter.
1. Chapter 1

Hadrian Potter stared into the whiskey that filled his glass and wondered how he had gotten to this point.

He had moved out of his parents house as soon as it was legal and had moved into sirius' old family town house.

Sirius hated the old house and on Hadrians sixteenth birthday had signed the lease over to him.

Grimmauld Place was dirty, creepy, and dark, but it was better then living in his parents house for one more day.

He had apperated here at exactly twelve O'Clock on his seventeenth birthday.

He had not waited for anyone to wake up, he had just walked past the wards and apperated out of there and to the alleyway next to grimmauld place.

He had barely been there for an hour trying to clean the place up a bit when he had found the old stash of fire whiskey hidden in the old study upstairs.

That had led to him here brooding in the kitchen at 3 AM with a glass of fire whiskey in his hands.

He wondered what would have happened to his life had it been him who had been pronounced the savior all those years ago instead of his brother.

Would his parents have loved him like they loved his brother? would it had changed anything?

He really didn't know but it lifted something inside of him at the thought that somewhere, in a world where he had been the chosen one, his parents had loved him.

He knew of course that his parents did love him a some way, it was just hard to split the attention when you had the boy who was going to 'lead the world to a brighter future'.

Hadrian was nothing special in comparison, just an ordinary wizard with no big dreams or ambitions.

It was almost sad.

He took another sip on the golden liquid and smiled at the burning trail it left down his throat, only to choke when a light suddenly surrounded him.

there was a loud crack and a bright flash and then it was over.

When he woke up he was standing in what could only be a muggle house, the pictures were so still and empty that a shiver ran down his back. The floor was covered in a ghastly pink carpet that clashed horribly with the pale green walls.

He stood and walked over to one of the pictures. He raised an eyebrow at the unusual looking family that stared back at him.

The man and woman where completely different, the woman was so thin that he had no doubt you could see her ribs, it was paired with a long neck that in no way looked like a swans and more like a giraffe. The man on the other hand seemed to resemable a hippo, he was tall almost towering over the woman and child in the picture and he had no neck to speak of only rolls of fat.

The little boy on the other hand looked no older than eleven, he seemed to be on his way of impersonating his father, he looked at least ten pounds over weight and with his arrogant and bored expression he could have been a younger clone of the man.

the only thing that the weird family had in common was the blond straw like hair that already seemed to be disappearing on the mans head.

He shook his head and reached out to pick up the photo to get a closer look only to freeze when his hand seemed to just go through the frame.

He tried to pick it up again, but still nothing changed as his hand drifted through it like he was a...ghost.

He swallowed thickly and tried to tell himself that he wasn't dead, that it was just a magical accident and once he got to the nearest magical hospital everything would go back to normal.

With a firm nod to himself, the seventeen year old spun on his heel and tried to apparate; tried being the key word there.

He felt like he had hit a brink wall and bounced off right back into the muggles living room.

He clutched his head and groaned, it felt like he had just been run over by a herd of hippogryph.

Once he got his bearings together, he went towards where he assumed the front door would be He didn't know why someone had put wards around a muggles home but he wasn't to keen to find out while his body was imitating a ghost.

He only realized how bad the situation really was when he attempted to leave the property.

He had walked straight through the front door and started to head down the street only to get bounced back only a few feet away from the muggles house.

The next hour was spent in frustration as he attempted to get out from the wards that were keeping him in the vicinity of the muggle home; every attempted ended in failure.

Hadrian paced the living room with long strides, He had gone into every bedroom and had found nothing that could explain his situation, in fact the only thing that was even remotely magical were the various hogwarts invitation letters that seemed to be all over the house.

In fact the house was completely empty and seemed to have been for days, so he had no luck in trying to find someone in the house to help.

Finally heaving a sigh, he sat down and put his head in his hands.

No one would come to look for him because everyone knew that he had planned to leave his parents house as soon as possible and now that knowledge worked against him as it would be weeks before anyone even considered that he might be missing and not just hiding out in Grimmauld place.

With nothing else to do he curiously looked down at the one of the letters scattered across the floor and his eyebrows slowly crept up as he read who it was addressed to.

Mr H. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey.

He was sure he had no other relatives with the name potter, as a half blood he had many cousins from his fathers side (his mother had always said that the only good thing about the magical worlds obsession with inbreeding was that everyone was pretty much family) but none of them had the potter name.

He stood up and began to look at the letters and found that one seemed to be the only one addressed to The Cupboard under the Stairs. The rest seemed to be addressed to Mr. H. Potter

The Smallest Bedroom

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging,

Surrey.

One of his faults had always been his inability to ignore his curiosity so he walked towards the hallway and to the only space in the house that he had not checked over yet.

He knelt in front of the cupboard door and stuck his head in. He wished he hadn't.

He stared at the tiny cot that was squished into the back of the tiny space, it was filthy covered in dust and dirt and he swallowed harshly at what could only be small blood stains on the bed and surrounding areas.

There where crayon pictures that seemed to be hung up on the wall at the very back of the cupboard, as if trying to hide them from site.

There were broken pieces of toys and crayons that seemed to be especially treasured.

he slowly moved back out of the cupboard and tried to hold back his horror.

Someone who was most likely family was being treated like an abused house elf.

His family.

He closed his eyes as fury completely overtook any other emotion and with a loud bang he slammed his fist onto the wall next to him.

The fury drained away as fast as it came as he stared at his fist and then the wall.

With eager motions, he repeated the action only to sag in disappointment as his hand went straight through the wall with no resistance what so ever.

He went over his actions in his head, trying to figure out what had been different that time

He blinked startled as he realized how simple it was. It would be easy to assume that it was sort of like accidental magic in that the stronger the emotion the more likely it would occur.

He thought back to what his little cousin must have had to endure while living here and he grabbed the anger that welled up in him and tried to open the cupboard door. it turned slowly at first until without warning his hand slid though the doorknob and it twisted back in place as if mocking him.

He glared down at the doorknob with his best pureblood sneer but the doorknob did not appear intimidated.

Seems like he would have to do this the hard way.

The next few days were spent practicing how to touch things like he was solid. It was going frustratingly slow. It seemed every step he went forward a new complication would come and push him back two.

He had been running his fingers over the soft fabric of the couch with a triumphant smile when the front door opened for the first time.

It was the family that he had seen in the photos that seemed to be trying to take over the living room.

They were quite distressed as they came in, the younger boy was holding his hand to his bum and crying hysterically, the mother seemed to be close to joining him.

The father was puffed up indignant and ranting about 'The Freak'.

Hadrian listened to his rants with fury.

He knew that it was a high chance he was talking about his newly discovered cousin and it made him want to stand up and punch the bastard in the face. He knew he was angry enough that it had a high chance of actually hitting him and he was so very tempted but one thing stopped him.

He had no idea if they would blame his little cousin for the apparent haunting. From his rants it sounded like they blamed him for everything from having to take time off work with no pay and causing global warming.

He had no proof that they would really blame the boy but he didnt want to chance it and so he curbed his violent thoughts and watched the muggle family with disgusted eyes.

He had never had a problem with muggles before this, his mother being a muggleborn and all had made sure that any thoughts of unjustified hating muggles were completely removed from his mind before they had a chance to start. But staring at the pieces of hippogryph dung that stood in front of him tested that to its limits.

Wizards would never even think of abusing children, it just wasnt done. Children were a gift from Magic, to be cherished and loved. Even the thought of mental abuse was enough to make even the darkest wizards Grindelwald would never harm a child.

The thought that muggles could actually live with themselves after how he suspected they treated his cousin sent him into a rage.

He remembered all those reports in the muggle newspaper his mother had insisted on subscribing too. He thought of the murders and rapes of children as young as two and he knew he shouldn't put them in the same category as all muggles but he couldn't help the disgust that filled him.

It had not seemed real to him when he had read about in the papers, the thought was just too reprehensible to even contemplate.

But he had spent hours sitting in that cupboard, trying to imagine how terrified his little cousin must have been and it had effected him more than he was willing to admit.

The next few days were spent avoiding the disgusting muggles and staying in the small bedroom that he suspected was now his little cousins. He was both glad that they had moved him up here at some point and furious that they had an extra room that appeared to be unused until recently that his little cousin could have used.

After a hour and his little cousin did not turn up he began to worry, three hours and he was in the early stages of panic, when the fifth hour came and no signs of his return arrived he began to get hysterical as he thought of all the things that could be happening to him.

What if the dursleys had killed him? what if they had hidden his body and it would never be found? what if he was sold into slavery? what if he had been kidnapped by people worse than the muggles here?

The what if's began to drive him mad as he began to camp out in front of the door, waiting for his cousin anxiously.

it was nine hours later that he arrived.

He was a tiny tyke, short, skinny, with pale skin and the signature potter hair. He wore glasses that seemed to be holding on only with the help of tape.

He was completely adorable.

But there was one thing that made him pause.

He had vibrant green eyes.

Lily Potter nee Evans eyes. there was no way that was possible. The potters always had brown or hazel eyes and Hadrian had been the first in generations to have green eyes. There was no way he could have the exact shape and color of his mothers eyes unless.. unless he was her son.

He walked behind the tiny boy in a daze, following him up the stairs and to the small room upstairs.

It wasn't until he was in the room that he realized that his possible little brother was staring at him with wide shocked eyes.

"can you see me?" Hadrian asked slowly

The eleven year old nodded his head slowly and Hadrian tried to think about what to say now.

He hadn't even thought of the possibility that harry would be able to see him, not since the muggles had arrived and had seemed completely oblivious. Did this mean that only magical people could see him or just harry?

He waved those thoughts aside and walked towards the boy.

He crouched down just before him as harry stumbled back, trying to get away.

He waited until harry saw that he wasn't doing anything before bowing his head slightly and smiling at the boy.

"I'm Hadrian Potter, Blessed Be"

The boy blinked large green eyes up at him

"P-potter?" He stuttered out before blushing

"Harry potter, nice to meet you"

Well at least he has manners, even if they were muggle.

Hadrian gracefully moved from his crouched position to sitting Indian style, waiting to see what the boy in front of him would ask first.

"You are a potter?" He asked hesitantly

Hadrian smiled warmly at him before nodding.

"To my knowledge, iv never heard of a harry potter on the family tree, do you know who your parents are?" Hadrian asked softly

Harry seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding to himself

"My moms name was lily and my dad's was James."

Hadrian didn't let anything other then warmth show on his face, he didn't want to scare the boy away with showing his shock or disbelief.

"was?" he asked when he caught onto the word.

"they died when i was a year old, a dark wizard killed them to get to me" He answered softly

Hadrian swallowed dryly

"what year was that?" he asked lowly

The boy, no doubt hearing th change in his voice, looked even more hesitant but spoke anyways.

"October 1, 1981."

The night was spent slowly getting to know harry, for the night he ignored all thoughts of alternated dimensions and time travel and just focused on the abused orphan boy.

He kept topics away from heavy stuff after that and instead regaled the boy with some of his quidditch games.

The boy appeared quite fascinated and gasped at all the appropriate parts.

"...And then right before the hufflepuff seeker figured out i hadn't actually seen the snitch i pulled up and he slammed into the ground."

Harry stared at him with awestruck eyes

"did you win the game?" he asked excitedly

"Of course i won the game! Every potter is a natural on the broom!" He told the other boy

Harry paused

"do you think.. i'd be any good?" He asked

Hadrian didn't hesitate

"Of course! How could you not be! Your a Potter if i ever saw one!" He reassured the other boy.

"Have you met other potters?" He asked quietly

It was now or never.

he took a deep breath before starting to speak.

"i think its time i told you about myself"

The next hours were spent talking about being born as the older twin of James and lily potter. Of my parents finding out about a prophecy that told of one of the twins changing the world for the better.

Hadrian had not had a lot of magic growing up, to be honest no one expected he would survive after he was born. He was sickly and tiny while his younger brother was healthy as a baby could be. Albus Dumbledore had pronounced his brother would lead them to greatness when he was old enough. He was given the name The Chosen One. Hadrian was mostly ignored as he grew up as everyone showered their attention onto his brother.

That was not to say his family didn't love him, it was just hard to ignore Jeremy Potter.

Jeremy was bright and fun, he didn't let his fame go to his head or anything. he was strong and courageous, everything a savior should be. Hadrian on the other hand had been the bookworm of the family, spending most of his time in the potter library instead of with his parents or brother.

It wasn't all bad of course, he had been very close to all his uncles and his tutors.

When he had gotten older his relationship with his parents deteriorated until they barely spoke a word to each other. Their views were just too different from his own, he had not grown up being preached to by his parents of how he should behave, he had grown up forming his own opinions on things from what he read and heard.

His relationship with his brother was distant at best, they had nothing in common and so just sort of went separate way.

It had all come together when he had had a row with his father a day before his seventeenth birthday, he didn't even remember what it was about, only that it had been over something stupid and pointless and in the end he had left at the first chance just a few hours later.

".. Thats when the light appeared. Suddenly i was standing in this house, not able to touch anything and not knowing how i got there" He finished.

The boy was staring at him with wide eyes

"your my brother?" He asked with a broken voice.

Hadrian could do nothing but reply affirmative.

He barely had time to brace himself before the elven year old threw himself at him.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around the suddenly weeping boy.

He had never had a chance to be an older brother to Jeremy but as harry relaxed in his arms he couldnt help thank whoever had given him this chance.

The next day was hectic as the muggles avoided harry and by extension hadrian. It was discovered that if Hadrian was in the same vicinity of the boy then he could leave the house. With very little convincing on his part harry agreed to sneak out to go to Diagon Alley and with some explaining from hadrian the eleven year old finally summoned the night bus. Harry had been very excited at what he saw as his very first piece of magic, Hadrian did nothing to correct him.

They reached the entrance shortly, and Hadrian not knowing if the wizards or witches would be able to see him straightened up his appearance and put what his mother called his 'Pureblood mask'.

Harry had stared at him shocked at the sudden cold look on his face but had relaxed when Hadrian had winked at him and gestured to the door.

It turned out that no one was able to see him except for harry. It was both a relief and a disappointment.

Hadrian had not wasted anytime in dragging the boy towards the alleyway entrance, wanting to get to the library as fast as possible.

It was only when the bricks moved aside that he realized how different this world actually was.

The alley was completely different then he remembered. Buildings that he remembered being there only yesterday had disappeared and stores he had never heard of appeared to have taken their place. The people where wearing old fashioned robes and pointed hats and it was all mixed in with people wearing muggle clothes.

The Fountain that should have stood in the middle of the alley was completely gone, so were the entrances to the other alleyways leaving only Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley.

Harry had ended up having to show him towards a bookstore (Of course the libray wouldn't be there Lily Potter died before she could start the project), the rest of the day was spent in the bookstore as Hadrian scanned the books and finding one he remembered helping him a lot with his potion work, handed it to harry to read while he searched for clues.

Finding out where their universes differed had actually been fairly easy, it seemed like in this world's gellert grindelwald was defeated by Albus Dumbledore five years later than in his world.

In Hadrians world Gellert Grindelwald while a well known ruthless wizard had only terrorized the wizarding world for about a year if less and the quick action to defeat him made anyone with thoughts of becoming a dark lord hesitant.

But gellert grindelwald ruled for six or seven years here and it had caused a big impact by creating a Dark Lord that the books only ever addressed as You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

He had found that ridiculous until he had found the accounts of the people who had been caught and tortured for speaking his name. He wondered if maybe their was a taboo on his name or something similar, He had never seen someone use a taboo quite like that.

Harry couldn't help much as he had only just introduced to the wizarding world a few days ago and so had little knowledge of the wizarding world. But what he could tell was disturbing; If this hagrid man was true then there was a possibility that the Dark Lord was still out there.

The thought that someone so vicious was still alive and with a grudge against his new found brother made him want to hurl but he calmed himself and swore he would not let anything happen to the boy.

they used one of the galleons that harry had brought with them to buy a book on the laws that had been passed in the last century, and then ignoring any protest (not there were many) he dragged harry down into Knockturn Alley and instructing the boy to ignore the peddlers that were trying to scare him. Harry did an amazing job of impersonating Hadrians 'Pureblood Mask' and walked right through the crowd.

Hadrian had to hold back a slight smile when he saw how much harry sagged in relief once they passed the peddlers and started down the Alley way.

From what harry had told him, Harry was this worlds 'Chosen One', And wasn't it ironic that both of his younger brothers would be the 'Chosen Ones'. He remembered how the public had jumped on Jeremy like vultures on dead meat. and he did not want that for harry but he also did not want him to go back to the muggle house.

That left one other option for the moment until he could figure out if he still had access to grimmauld place.

They both stared at the Building in front of them hesitantly

the sign was old, rotting and covered in dirt but you could still make out the words on it,

Nightmares Lodging.

It's outside looked like everything you would expect from an Knockturn Alley motel, but surprisingly the inside was very warm and homey. They had only just walked in when a older woman bustled into the room and beamed at them

"Hello, dear! Come in, come in!" she practically dragged harry in and Hadrian raised an eyebrow at the womans excitement.

"We don't get a lot of guest you see" she explained while fixing harry a cup of tea "we didn't have the money to get a building in Diagon Alley and it was always my dream to open a small hotel. I found this place and while no the best of locations was cheap enough to buy"

She hummed to herself absently while waving her wand around the bewildered boy who was soon wrapped in a deep red blanket and holding a cup of steaming mint tea.

Harry looked over at him pleadingly and Hadrian chuckled before walking behind the boy.

"Blessed Be, my name is Harry Evans" Hadrian told him.

Harry stared at him for a second, confused, before he smiled in relief and with new found confidence repeted the introduction word for word. Hadrian made sure to push harry's head forward in a bow.

The woman froze for a second, before smiling at him again softer this time

"Blessed Be" She replied almost reverently.

Hadrian stared at the womans unusual reaction, 'Blessed Be' is a fairly common and traditional way to greet people in magical England and most of America.

He could understand if he had chosen one of the more rare greetings but Blessed Be...

He tuned back into the conversation as harry finally stood up.

"it's late i should head to bed" Harry told her apologetic.

"Oh, of course. Let me just get you your room key and then off to bed with you"

Hadrian watched her thoughtfully before following harry up the stairs.

He would begin his research tomorrow, for tonight he had a little brother to read to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Hadrian had discovered early on that being like a ghost did not mean that he stopped needing sleep, or maybe it was just such a habit that he didn't even think about the fact that he might not be able too

He supposed he could experiment to see how long he could last without sleep like this but he wasn't one to suffer without due cause and decided to hold that thought for another time.

He walked over towards where harry had laid down and smiled at the adorable scrunched up face.

how his father had had a hand in making something so adorable was a mystery.

He eyebrows furrowed as he thought about his father.

When Hadrian thought of his father it would always go hand and hand with Sirius and Remus, during his childhood both of them had become role models for him but he had been especially close to the werewolf.

They had practically raised him when his parents had been too focused on Jeremy and it made him wonder where they were at and why they weren't with harry.

He couldn't imagine a world that didn't have the marauders, so until he had definite proof he would continue thinking that the marauders were in this world. Now he just needed to find them and get some answers.

...

"where are we going today?" Harry asked him excited and Hadrian smiled down at him, amused. He had been this hyper since he woke up and realized he wouldn't have to go back to the Dursley's before hogwarts started.

"first lets head to Gringotts"

the boy ran ahead, only glancing warily at the peddlers once before moving beyond them and into Diagon Alley. Hadrian followed behind him at a slower rate.

Harry had already reached the marble staircases in front of the bank and was waiting for him impatiently.

He allowed himself to be dragged into the bank, making sure to stay close to the boy so it didn't actually look like he was dragging an invisible person.

they reached the teller in record time and the goblin raised an eyebrow at harry before sneering

"what do you want?"

Hadrian quickly pushed harry's head down into a slight bow and out of habit bowed himself.

"you need to talk quickly, time is money and goblins hate wasting money" Hadrian told harry.

just like they had practiced at the hotel he repeated everything Hadrian had told him.

"i would like to see my account manager" He rushed through the request like the goblin would leave any second if he didnt get it all out at once.

Hadrian hid a fond smile from the boy.

The goblin glowered down at him for a second before snarling

"Identification and key"

Harry already had the key out and handed to the goblin before he finished his sentence.

"Harry Potter" Harry whispered to the goblin, looking at the people in the teller beside them nervously.

The goblin inspected the key closely and harry fidgeted nervously until without warning he yelled out towards one of the goblins near him.

"Take them to see the Potter account manager."

Hadrian winced and waited for the mob to come but no one had even looked over. he had never given thought that there were silencing charms around the tellers but now that he thought about it it seemed like a good idea.

The goblin sneered at the human but gestured to follow him.

Harry trotted along obediently and Hadrian followed harry keeping a hand on his shoulder to keep him calm.

They walked into a side door that led into a marble passage way that Hadrian was intimately familiar with.

Jeremy might of been the Chosen one but Hadrian was the Potter Heir and their was nothing anyone could do about the fact. He had walked through these halls so many times with Sirius there to guide him about how to handle the potter fortune.

It made him smile as he thought about the fact that now he would be the one to guide the potter heir through the Do's and Dont's of financing.

They finally reached a door, it seemed to be made out of pure gold and Hadrian cocked his head curiously, this was not the same door that he had walked through so many times.

He looked around and spotted the door he would have normally gone in a few doors down.

The goblin did not bother to knock on the door just pushed it open and sneered harry in.

hadrian had expected that he would have to walk through the door because he knew the goblins fond habit of slamming the door behind the customer to startle them. petty? yes but no less so then the wizards who harassed the goblins in the front of the bank.

He paused and waited for the goblin to close the door because as much as he had confirmed that the door slamming in the middle of him would hurt he would still rather not chance it, he had not experimented to see if gold would react the same way other materials did. there was a high chance that it would do something as magically conductive it was.

He waited... and waited... and waited. glancing at the goblin confused he raised an eyebrow at the way the goblin just seemed to stand there. How curious.

walking forward he just made it past the doors when they slammed closed.

Curiouser and curiouser.

He examined the room and raised an eyebrow at the gaudy decorations that seemed to overrun the medium sized office.

The goblin sitting behind the over sized desk seemed to be having a contest with the room of who can dress more gaudy.

He was sneering down at harry maliciously and Hadrian tensed, as bad as relations were with the goblins and wizards, the goblins knew that at the moment they had no chance of winning a war and so while angry did their best to not show any actual rage.

Looking at the way this goblin was eying his little brother was enough to make him glare at the over dressed goblin.

"What do you want?" the goblin snarled

Hadrian's eyes narrowed even further, that was no way to treat the last heir of the potter's family.

It would only take a sentence and this goblin would be dismissed from his post as Potter Account Manager.

He walked up to the desk and watched with detached eyes as the goblin grew tenser the closer he moved. He started to circle the goblin, ignoring harry's confused look.

The goblin by this point looked like he was about to jump for the tacky golden axe that was pinned up on the wall next to the desk.

Without warning Hadrian lunged towards the goblin and watched with satisfied eyes as the goblin recoiled and jumped out of his seat.

"You can see me." Hadrian didn't bother stating it as a question.

It was a known fact that goblins, while magical, could not see ghost.

If a ghost came into gringotts he would be completely ignored as if he did not exist.

But what if they could see them? what if they just didn't want wizards to know that they could see ghost and more? what if they could see anything that was invisible?

it was a little known fact that during one of the goblins rebellion, the wizards had used ghost and wizards under Disillusionment Charms and Invisibility cloak's to spy on the goblins, because of that weakness. But what if they had some how fixed that over sight?

if the goblins ever decided to rebel again, they could use their gift to spread false information if they ever saw a ghost or an invisible wizard attempting to spy on them.

of course he had no evidence other then the fact that no one wizard or muggle had been able to see him and yet two goblins so far had indicated that they were aware of his presence.

The advantage though would be completely ruined if the wizards ever found out about this fact.

the only question was about how obvious the goblin in front of him was being, but examining the goblin closer he realized that this goblin looked a lot younger then the goblins in the tellers.

Did he not have enough experience to not show he was aware of Hadrian?

well either way he did not want someone this easily shaken to manage the potter account and so dismissed the goblin to look at harry.

The goblin sneered at him angrily and looked about ready to attack him, damn the consequences.

"Harry tell the nice goblin that he is dismissed from his post" Hadrian smiled as the goblins eyes widened in panic.

While confused and nervous did as he was told, trusting that Hadrian knew what he was doing.

"You are dismissed from your post".

A green line connected to harry and the goblin suddenly appeared and just as quickly shattered.

The room was suddenly filled with goblins of all shapes and sizes as they realized what had happened.

It was custom that as soon as an Account Manger was dismissed another goblin was to take his place. Normally there would not be so many but as the Account Manager to the Potter vault, there were a lot of benefits.

As one of the Ancient and Noble houses the amount of gold in the vault was obscene. And the more gold in the account the more gold the goblin would be paid for their work.

The chance to be the Potter Account Manager was one most goblins would and had killed for.

"I would like to see Golick" Hadrian announced to the room.

The goblins reacted like they couldn't hear him but Hadrian knew that the chance to be the Potter Account Manager would be one too good to pass up.

He was correct when after a second a goblin came forward and the goblins around him snarled.

Hadrian knew that the likely hood that Golick was the same goblin as he remembered was low but he was willing to take the chance because Golick had been in charge of the Potter family gold for generations and in the end if it didn't work out it wasn't like it would really effect the potter fortune.

"Harry, would you be willing to announce Golick as your new Account Manager?"

Harry looked at him with wide eyes, searching for the answer in his eyes but finding nothing.

Harry needed to decide this on his own.

Harry hesitated only for a moment before announcing to the room that he appointed Golick as his new Account Manager.

There were a few more snarls but the goblins emptied the room none the less, until the only people left were Golick, Harry, the previous Account Manager, and Hadrian.

The room was silent for a moment before with no warning Golick took out the dagger that had been hidden in his sleeve and with a mighty swing slammed it into the skull of the previous Account Manager.

Having already known this was the most likely out come Hadrian had stood in front of Harry making sure harry did not look anywhere but his eyes, Harry had witnessed enough violence in his life. He could only block the sight though and so he could do nothing to stop the flinch that harry gave when he heard the blade hit the target.

It was also customary for the goblin to take out any loose ends once they gained an account, and that could mean paying back a debt or killing the goblin with the most information on the vault.

...

"what do you mean this is all thats in the Potter Vault" Hadrian snarled at the goblin but the goblin ignored him, too stunned to really speak.

Harry stared at him scared and Hadrian forced himself to calm down.

"How could this happen? Only a potter can get into the vault and harry is the last one left"

At that the goblins head snapped up in realization.

"His Legal Guardian would have the right to take out money for the care of the Heir"

Hadrian's anger boiled in him, the same guardian who had put harry in that horrid muggle house had been stealing millions of Galleons from the Potter vault under the excuse of using to help raise harry.

They could do nothing about it as it was the Guardians right to have access to the vault, and unless they could prove that the money was not spent on harry then their hands were tied.

...

The first thing both Hadrian and Golck agreed upon was looking through the last two decades of bank statement to find out when the stealing had started.

The first few years were relatively normal, he could see his mothers hand in the muggle company investments and his fathers in the investments of all kinds of quidditch stores around the world.

The fortune was still there at that time, going into the billions and rising and then a few days after this worlds Lily and James died, it started.

The gold that his ancestors had sweat, bled and worked for being drained to the gutter, thousands of galleons gone each month as the person only registered as The Potter Heir's Legal Guardian.

With the help of both the bookstore and Golick it didn't take a lot of work to piece together the clues until he realized who Harry's legal guardian was, after all it was the one thing that every person in the magical world agreed about.

Albus dumbledore has a lot to answer for Hadrian growled.

He had been studying the Headmaster of Hogwarts for hours now, after he had found out the man was Harry's Legal Guardian, and to tell the truth he didn't know whether to admire the man for his sheer gal at practically taking over the British wizarding world without anyone the wiser or disgust .

Most of the difference's about this world all seemed to lead towards the old man and none of the changes were one's that he would categorize as good.

It seemed that defeating the dark lord a few years later had lifted him up on pedestal, he understood that after so many more years of war the wizarding world would be grateful but this was completely ridiculous.

Headmaster

Grand Sorcerer

Supreme Mugwump

Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot

It was amazing how much power people were willing to put in the hands of a man as long as it seemed like he didnt actually want it.

And that wasn't even getting into the fact that most of the people who put forth bans on 'dark' creatures or magic all seemed to originate from the old man.

Every law that oppressed anything with 'dark' leanings some how led back to dumbledore, whether it be from someone who has a reputation of following dumbledore or dumbledore himself.

He didn't even want to think about the books that quoted dumbledore on how "Young harry is growing up safe and sound from dark wizards."

He wanted to scream at the old man, ask him if harry was safe from the muggles that he had put him with.

He ran a hand through his long hair and sighed, things were so different here.

Werewolves and vampires were being monitored as if they were Jews in the time of Hitler and were not even classified as people.

It was disgusting in a way that he could not even describe.

With dark lords, a corrupt ministry, and a man ruling the magical world from the shadows his hope for this magical world was slowly going down the drain.

...

Both Harry and Hadrian stumbled into Nightmares Lodging exhausted.

They had not had a minute of free time all day, with swearing never to reveal the goblins secrets, trying to find a way to save the potter fortune, searching for information on albus dumbledore, and going through the laws passed in the last century.

"Hello, dear. How was your day?" The old woman, Vita, smiled at harry as she fussed over his exhausted appearance.

"merry meet, Vita" Harry mumbled and Hadrian smiled proudly at how harry had begun to learn the correct ways to greet others.

Once again Vita stumbled over what ever she was going to say, staring at him before gesturing for him to sit.

"You should be more careful" she warned him as she summoned the deep red blanket for him again.

"huh? what do you mean?" Harry asked confused while snuggling deeper into the blanket.

"You never know if someone sympathetic with the ministry." she said vaguely while avoiding looking at the boy.

Hadrian studied the woman warily, wondering what she was talking about. he did not have to say anything to harry to continue the conversation as he was just as curious.

"What do you mean?" he repeated

The woman paused for moment before sighing and sitting in front of the eleven year old.

"Someone is going to realize he practiced the Old Ways if he continue like this" she muttered to herself worriedly before determinely staring harry straight in his eyes.

"You have to be more discreet. I could have had the ministry over here to arrest you for suspicion of practicing the Old Ways"

Hadrian world seemed to go grey.

The Old Ways... were illegal?


	3. Chapter 3

The Old Ways were illegal, that was unexpected.

Hadrian paced the length of the room while Harry watched confused.

"is it really such a big deal?"

Hadrian stopped and tried to find a way to explain how big of a deal this was but nothing could really capture how stunned he was by this development.

"The Old Ways are more then just tradition, it's our culture.

Sure not everyone practice's the Old Ways but those that didn't were in the minority. The Old Ways were something we all had in common, it was something that we could share with even the muggleborns who came into the wizarding world something that tied us all together.

It was a way to celebrate the magic that we were gifted with"

Hadrian knew that harry still didn't understand and that was a given because he had no idea how to explain it to someone who hadn't even known magic had existed last week and all the muggleborns that he had been friends with had taken a wizarding culture class and so he had never really had to explain it to anybody. He had grown up practicing the Old Ways, to him it was like trying to explain a color to someone- red was red and blue was blue, he had no other way of explaining it.

He spent the next few minutes trying to get harry to understand what the Old Ways were to no effect and after a while he just sighed and changed the subject but it seemed he had no luck as somehow the conversation slowly drifted around until finally landed on the topic of the horrible muggle family that had tormented the child for most of his life.

"will they be able to take me away from you?" Harry asked him slowly

Hadrian hesitated before straightening his back, lifting his chin stubbornly and putting a hand on the boy's shoulder

"i would never let them take you back to that pigs house. Even if its the last thing i do, ill make sure you never have to step a foot in that house again"

Hadrian tried to hide how cheesy that line made him feel (really? if its the last thing ill do?) and tried to show Harry how serious he was and he must of done something right because the boy slowly relaxed and with one last glance at Hadrian closed his eyes with a small smile.

Harry would always be thankful for Hadrian for taking him away from the Dursley's, he had no doubt about that, but its just been him against the world for so long that its hard to trust the man/ghost not to throw him back to the wolves as soon as Harry does something to upset him.

He had been 'saved' before.

Teachers.

Neighbors.

Librarians.

But in the end he always ends up back in that house waiting for the day where he could leave forever without looking back.

And then Hadrian had arrived.

While he might not have completely understood Hadrian's explanation of how he had gotten there, he did understand that they had the same parents.

It could have been in a different world filled with man eating Martians for all he cared, all he knew was that this man knew his parents.

Could tell him things about them that he had always wished to know.

He had been with the Dursley's long enough to know you couldn't trust people just because they are family but he had spent so many nights laying in his cupboard dreaming of his parents coming to take him away and this was the closest he would ever get to that dream.

So, he ignored every bone in his body that told him not to give his trust too easily, that Hadrian would be just like the Dursely's if given the chance.

He ignored his rational side and let all those dreams take over because it had always been him against the world, but he was only eleven.

He didn't want it to be like that, he wanted to be a normal child who could depend on someone else to take care of the things that harry didn't want or have too.

He took a leap of faith and followed Hadrian out of the Dursleys house and into another world.

It was liberating in a way he had never dreamed of before.

Maybe one day Hadrian would get sick of him and find a way to untie himself from Harry but until that day came he was going to cling to the closets thing he had to his parents with both hands and so he nodded to the mans reassurance that he would never go back to the Dursleys and settled in the hotel's bed with a small smile, yes, maybe Hadrian would get sick of him some day but until that day arrived...

Hadrian stared at the sleeping child silently almost wishing that it was the Old Ways being banned that was making his head spin in a hundred different direction but, no, it was the little boy sleeping that had him in such a worry.

As much as he wished he was telling the truth when he had told Harry that he would never have to go back to the Dursleys, he knew that things weren't that simple.

If Harry had been just anybody else it would have been easier but Harry had survived the Killing curse and that made him a person of interest in the wizarding world.

They would notice he was missing from his relatives house sooner or later and then he would be taken back to his relatives oh so 'loving' care.

Hadrian was a nobody here, people couldn't even see him, there was no way they would give custody of their Savior to someone that couldn't talk too let alone see, so they would have every right to take him back to his relatives.

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration and closed his eyes trying to think of anything that would keep harry out of Dursley's house, but his mind stayed frustratingly blank.

with his entire being filled with frustration it was no problem to grab the law book that had been carelessly thrown on the floor after their rush to get to gringotts this morning.

He flipped through the pages trying to find anything that would help his new found sibling and just about ready to throw the book at the wall when he spotted it.

The book slipped through his hands as all his frustration left and he stared at the passage that was Maybe, just maybe, the answer to his problem.

The Alexander Act was an old law that most people ignored and was mostly forgotten about by the majority of people.

it had been made long before the ministry of magic had come around, the law had been made when the only people who had govern over the magical community had been the council of houses, mostly made up of the ancient and noble houses.

The whole law had been about the treatment of apprentice's, the law had been named after an apprentice who had met a perticularly grisly end at the hand of his master and it had sparked enough outrage that the council had gathered and had decreed that every apprentice was to be treated like a student and with respect that every being deserved.

of course there were some who were not happy with the change as the apprentice-master relationship was less about teaching back then and more about- Ahem..

He shook that thought out of his head and turned his attention back to the problem at hand.

The law itself had really nothing to do with the solution he was slowly building in his head. It had only reminded him of what had been in his face the whole time.

if he could convince Harry to go through with this then most of their problems would be fixed all he needed to do was convince harry that it was the only way.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, he needed a clear mind if he was going to come up with an convincing enough argument that would make harry ignore the fact that if he did agree to this then his chances of going to hogwarts before he turned fifteen were close to nil.

He groaned and wondered why the best answer would also be the hardest one to sell.

"Okay"

Hadrian opened his mouth to point out all the benefits and to not be so hasty in his denial only to stare at the boy stunned when he realized what the boy said.

"just like that?" he asked stupefied

Harry laughed at his expression

"just like that"

Hadrian opened and closed his mouth at a loss for a moment before centering himself.

"you have to be completely sure about this harry, this isn't something you can back out of"

Harry shook his head him fondly exasperated.

"Hadrian,i know we'v only just met and i have no reason to trust you, but right now the only thing i have to lose is you and this is the best option to making sure i stay with you and away from the Dursleys."

Hadrian tried to ignore the feeling in his chest that could be nothing but affection for the green eyed boy.

He didn't know what to feel for a moment as he realized that this was it, they were really going to do this and then he shoved his pride aside and he laughed in relief.

Harry eyed him mischievously,

"does this mean i should call you master?"

Hadrian chocked on his laughter and that set off Harry who finally let himself laugh and let go of his worries.

Hadrian shook his head at the boy but left him alone in his mirth, he had a ritual to prepare.

Harry eyed the black substance wearily and Hadrian ignored the urge to roll his eyes at the boy.

"its just ink"

Hadrian decided against telling him that only half of that was ink, he would find out eventually but for the moment Hadrian wanted him as calm as possible.

Harry relaxed slightly and Hadrian smiled at him, trying to calm him.

"don't worry, it's a fairly simple ritual."

Harry finally relaxed all the way and nodded at him to continue.

Hadrian pulled his mental shields down and let his emotions guide his movement as he picked up a small bush.

It was a tiny thing, the handle made out of birch with what looked like thin small dark gray hairs for the brush itself.

"does it mean anything?" Harry asked curiously

" well the birch symbolizes new beginnings and cleansing of the past and the Ram hair symbolizes a lot of things but a few of the main ones are new beginning, power, and protection." Hadrian answered absently while slowly dipping the brush into the ink.

He gestured for harry to come forward and the boy hurried forward and watched curiously as Hadrian pulled his hand forward and slowly started to draw what looked like weird symbols on his palm and around his wrist.

"what are they?"

Hadrian glanced up briefly before continuing his work

"their runes. That will be one of the subjects ill be teaching you during your apprenticeship"

Harry's eyes lit up and stared at the strange symbols even harder and Hadrian chuckled to himself.

"almost done" he muttered to both himself and his observer.

With a few final strokes he set the brush down and stood up from his kneeling position.

"you ready?" Hadrian asked and got a nod in return.

Hadrian didn't bother waiting for the ink to dry before clasping his hand with Harry's, he could feel the gritty black liquid squish between their hands and he let himself focus completely on the magic.

"do you recognize Hadrian Potter as a suitable master?"

Hadrian barely realized his lips were moving let alone that sound was coming out.

"I do"

"Do you Hadrian Potter recognize Harry potter as a suitable apprentice?" The words came from harry's mouth but he spoke them mechanically and without emotion.

"i do"

"Harry potter, do you recognize the responsibilities of learning everything that your master can teach?"

"i do"

"Hadrian Potter, do you recognize the responsibilities of sharing all your knowledge with you apprentice?"

"i do"

There was a flash of magic as if cementing the oath and then they both seized up as magic seemed to course through every vein in their body like lava, there was a moment of stillness until slowly the runes that had been painted on the younger boys palm slid off of his skin and slowly moved until the runes circled Hadrian's wrist and started to glow a dark jade while the runes on harry's slowly took on a golden sheen.

With one last flash of light the magic disappeared, leaving the two potters standing there, their hands clasped together and feeling like everything was finally working in their favor.

Hadrian broke the silence with a short laugh

"see, short and simple".

Hadrian admired the circle of runes around his wrist proudly, it was a work of art really and he knew he would become quite fond of the tattoo by the weeks end.

"What do you think?" he asked gesturing to his apprentice's wrist.

Harry glance up from where he had been inspecting the golden ink and gave him a slight smile

"i never thought i would get a tattoo, let alone get one before i turn eighteen"

"that doesn't answer if you like it or not" Hadrian teased while ushering the boy out of the old warehouse that they had ridden the Knight bus to.

"its kind of cool"

Hadrian turned that response around his head before shrugging his shoulders knowing he wouldn't get an answer better then that.

Hadrian lifted his wand and summoned the Knight bus.

Stan Shunpike stood in the opened door of the knight bus and gave out his usual introduction.

Harry nodded to the conductor in greeting while keeping his forehead covered by his bangs while handing the teenager the money for the ride.

Hadrian had been just about to follow him when a hand landed on his shoulder.

" 'scuse me sir, but you hav' to pay th' fee"

Hadrian could barely hear what the teenager was saying while stared at the hand on his shoulder incredulously.

Harry hearing the commotion turned back to them and then stared in shock at the teenager.

Hadrian looked around the bus and realized that multiple different passengers were staring at him in disapproval.

he took a deep breath and absently dug into his coin purse and handed the conductor the coin and he was let go to take a seat.

Hadrian's brain was running over all the reasons as to why he was suddenly able to interact with the people of this world but the only thing he could think of that had changed from this morning would be the apprenticeship but how would that change anything?

He vaguely felt harry grab his hand and lead him over to a seat in the very back of the bus.

the apprenticeship ritual was needed to connect the magic of the-

Could that be it? Hadrian paused as he considered the thought.

What if the reason he could not move far away from harry or could only be seen by harry was because he was the only connection that Hadrian had to this world but it was a very weak connection one that would only allow the most minimal amount of interaction with the people of this world. The apprenticeship ritual bonded the magic of master and apprentice together for as long as the apprenticeship lasted, which could be years.

If the ritual connected their magic like it was supposed to then it could possibly give him a stronger connection to this world by being bonded to one of its original inhabitants.

There was just one problem really, it was all too convenient.

He magically found the answer that could keep harry away from the Dursleys, out of the hands of Dumbledore, and give him a body that could interact with the people of this world with on small ritual that he had only remembered by chance?

it was just too good to be true.

All he could do now was wait for the other shoe to drop.

A/N- Chapter 3! yay! it didn't take me a million years to get it on here! i deserve a cookie.

So, a few things i wanted to point out.

first- the reason his name is Hadrian is i assume that James or Lilly would still choose to name their first born something similar to harry as that was their first choice for a name, so you can get any thoughts out of your head that Hadrian is harry because he really isn't.

second- pairings, right now i have no idea who the pairing is going to be and if i do choose a pairing it will not show up for a while but if you have any preferences for the significant other of either harry or Hadrian just tell me in the comments.

the gender doesn't matter to me- Male or female. they could be with a goblin for all i care, so long as i like the goblins personality. xD

ill be putting up a poll for the pairings later on but this is so i know who ya'll would prefer right now.

Any questions in the comments! No flamming please.


End file.
